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Ryan
226 Posts |
 Posted - June 09 2008 : 11:22:02
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Steve Roland Prefontaine was born January 25, 1951 in Coos Bay, Oregon.
“Pre” as he was nicknamed, was one of the leading American distance runners of the early 1970s. To quote Steve “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”. In my belief, never were truer words spoken as I feel that statement can be applied to any aspect of life.
Steve was a typical American kid who wanted to play football and other contact sports.
Unfortunately for Steve he was too short to play these sports as he was only 5'9”.
However, this came as a blessing in disguise as he enrolled onto the track team at Marshfield High School. During his last two years of high school he remained undefeated in cross country and also managed to set the American record in the 2mi distance with a time of 10:08.
Upon graduating Marshfield High, “Pre” enrolled at Oregon state university. At that time Oregon State coach Bill Bowerman was one of the best coaches in College, maybe even all track sports. During the 1960's Coach Bowerman led 33 people to the Olympics, so “Pre” was off to a great start.
During “Pre's” High school years, he was known for running faster short distances. It came as a surprise to Steve when he suffered defeats in these distances during his college track meets. Confused, he turned to Coach Bowerman for guidance and advice. Bowerman basically explained to “Pre” that he would make a better long distance runner, as he did not have enough kick in his speed to win the short distance.
The legacy of Steve Roland Prefontaine was his style of running these distances. “Pre” believed that you run hard all through out an entire race. In long distance running this is often taught as the ultimate “not to do”. Runners are told to pace themselves in the beginning of a race and to save their energy for the final kick at the end of the race.
Steve was young, stubborn and determined to keep true to his ideals. His Coach became frustrated with Steve, but since “Pre” could win the race, Bowerman basically backed off. The two became very close during their years together at Oregon State, almost like a father and son bond. Actually if I think about it what son isn't stubborn and determined to follow their own path, I know mine is.
Leading the American's in the 1972 olympics, “Pre” set the American record in the 5k distance. The unfortunate thing was he was passed in the last 150 meters by two other runners and he was shifted to 3rd place. He was then passed in the last 15 meters by another runner to lose his 3rd place spot and a chance at winning a medal for the U.S. Olympic team. Being the perfectionist he was, this came as a hard blow to “Pre's” ego and almost gave up running altogether.
On May 30, 1975, Steve Roland Prefontaine again set the American record in the 5000 meter race.
That night after celebrating his victory at a party, “Pre” dropped off his friend and fellow distance champion “Frank Shorter”. On his way home, Steve avoided another vehicle around a sharp turn and hit a rock which overturned his vehicle instantly killing the American champion.
Although all of Steve's records have since been broken, his spirit and legacy lives on in many American distance runners to this day and maybe forever for that fact. While running, jogging or racing is not for everone, “ To give anything less than your best” is a great motto to live by. |
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Ryan
226 Posts |
Posted - June 09 2008 : 11:23:14
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| This is what I ended up writing for my speech class, Enjoy!!! |
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JF
3100 Posts |
Posted - June 09 2008 : 22:05:52
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| Correction: Pre ran for the University of Oregon, not Oregon State. If I were your teacher, I'd have to take some points off for getting the college wrong. Otherwise, good info! |
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Ryan
226 Posts |
Posted - June 09 2008 : 22:44:13
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Good catch, luckily I caught it just after I posted this and made the change. I basically wrote most of it based off my recollection of those 2 movies I saw a while back, and wiki of course.
BTW: great job at KR 5k the other day, considering the heat and confusion. |
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SonOfRoxy
486 Posts |
Posted - June 09 2008 : 23:04:28
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Ryan,
I'm pretty sure Pre's high school 2 mile record was WAY faster than 10:08. I think it was around 8:45, maybe faster. You could also mention that Pre's Olympic loss was to Lasse Viren, whose double gold medals in the 5000 and 10,000 at both the 72 and 76 games make him argueably the greatest Olympic distance runner. Nice tribute. |
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Ryan
226 Posts |
Posted - June 09 2008 : 23:13:18
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Again, good catch. I don't know where 10:08 came from, need to work my research skills more. Just found a link with all Pre's record times.
http://home.europa.com/~bence/pre/sp.htm
As far as the loss to Viren, I didn't want go into too much detail as I was speaking to a group of non-runners. Matter of fact, they kinda rolled their eyes a little just as I said "one of the leading American distance runners". Blah, Blah, Blah, running blah. Thats about all they heard... |
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SonOfRoxy
486 Posts |
Posted - June 09 2008 : 23:34:19
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| My claim to fame is I ran the exact same time in the mile as Pre as a freshman in hs. Of course, it was considered a weak year for him! |
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xc07track
232 Posts |
Posted - June 17 2008 : 09:38:34
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| just wondering, why did u feel the need to put frank shorter's name in quotes? |
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Ryan
226 Posts |
Posted - June 17 2008 : 10:55:47
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quote:
Originally posted by xc07track
just wondering, why did u feel the need to put frank shorter's name in quotes?
Cause it was intended as a speech. I just wanted to make sure I could emphasize and maybe then ad lib on FS. |
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